


Time will never heal this wound

by The_Music_Gay



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Angst, Death, this is just angst tm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-24 17:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21901513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Music_Gay/pseuds/The_Music_Gay
Summary: The beheading and aftermath of Anne Boleyn's beheading told through the eyes of Maggie. Anne's loyal lady in waitingBased off of a @incorrect-sixquotes incorrect quote
Relationships: Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I of England, Anne Boleyn & Margaret Lee
Comments: 1
Kudos: 83





	Time will never heal this wound

**Author's Note:**

> Nothing major minus mentions of beheading and cheating. Other than that. Enjoy

She knew that Anne had heard the whispers. Everyone had heard them. Henry moving on with another woman. A rumour like that was hard to hide and even harder for it not to spread around the court like the plague. 

She wasn’t dumb. She saw the looks Henry gave to a particular to one Jane Seymour. Anne’s own Lady-In-Waiting. Her friend. 

It briefly brings her back to time when Jane Seymour was Anne Boleyn. Long ago to a time when a Spanish Princess ruled side by side with an English King. 

The king, bewitched by the new arrival at court and had quickly forgotten about his wife and daughter for a new and younger plaything. Someone who could give him a son. 

For Anne, sneaking around with the king behind the Queen’s back, it became a game. Only to arrive by morning to help the queen get ready for the day with her none the wiser. Until she was.

Maggie had seen it all during her time as Lady-In-Waiting for two of Henry’s wives. In her opinion, soon to be three wives. 

From Aragon to Anne. Anne to Jane… Now, history is repeating itself and Maggie can tell this will not end well. It never ends well, she’s begun to see. Never for the wives that is. 

Secrets among the courtiers and ladies is never a good thing. When one secret is about a certain queen and reaches the ears of a king who wishes to wed a new wife, that's when it starts to become a dangerous game where someone will get hurt. 

And in Maggie’s experience, it's never the husband who gets hurt. 

Once upon a time, Henry was happy and in love with Anne. It is true. The fire, the intelligence, the wit and the charisma that Anne was so well known for, Henry loved it all. 

Once upon a time he loved her but not anymore. 

Maggie should’ve done something. To warn Anne. She’d do anything to make this outcome different but what could she do to persuade the king. She was powerless. Helpless. She’d be given the same fate as Anne without any questions asked. And who would look after Lizzie once she and Anne were gone. 

What Henry wants, he gets no matter the innocent lives that get ruined in the process 

She’d been with Anne since Anne was a new Lady-In-Waiting for the new queen. They’d become close friends quickly. She supported Anne through miscarriages and stillbirths. She helped Anne with Lizzie. Watched with Anne as she grew up into a curious toddler. 

Anne was playing with Lizzie in the nursery when the guards came. Maggie was there watching and waiting. 

“Look after her. Please,” She had pleaded. 

“Dear friend, whatever they say about me. What slander they announce or have decreed I have done. Make sure she knows the truth. That I tried my best to be a good queen and that her mother loved her very much and would do anything for her,” Anne had whispered that sorrowful night, before walking away with the guards. 

Her head held high and her gaze straight. And a crying Lizzie and a mournful friend left behind. The sounds of footsteps fading away. 

Days later Anne’s been condemned to die. The accusations, the crimes, they’re untrue but when a king is convinced that Anne must be gotten rid of, there is no winning. She was doomed from the start but that didn’t help smother the flicker of hope she had until the verdict was read out. 

Guilty of incest, the judge called out. The echo revelation around the room. Yet, Anne kept her gaze towards the front. Her mouth barely moving in a prayer. A punch in the gut. 

Guilty of Adultery. It rings out. The death sentence. Anne doesn’t falter. It leaves Maggie spinning. 

Guilty of treason. Silence. 

The silence rings around the room. Anne Boleyn will die for her actions against the crown. Against an unjust crown and ruler. Maggie feels the wind knocked out of her. 

The next few days are the most vivid days of her life. She remembers everything she did. Every moment spent with Lizzie. Every time Lizzie asked for her mum but Maggie didn’t have the heart to tell Lizzie that her mum wasn’t coming back.

One day though, she will need to know. 

One day she will hear the whispers of court about her mother. The disgrace of the country. The whore. The witch for leading Henry away from being on the path of God and onto a path of damnation. 

She’ll never hear about Anne’s kindness to others, her intelligence and wits to rival the great men of the court. For all these will be swept under the rug. Forgotten as Henry moves onto the next wife. And then the next. Then the next. Until his death. Never satisfied. 

Until it becomes a distant memory in the ever changing court goers. 

Maggie will never forget though. She will never forget the nights talking to Anne when they were young Ladies-In-Waiting serving a foreign queen to when Anne herself was queen. She’ll never forget the quiet fire that roared in Anne’s eyes. Blazing away during the countless arguments she heard. 

Her quiet night time talks about improving the lives of the commoners. The intelligence and the grace that Anne was villainized for, were the very traits that Maggie admired the most. 

The night before Anne was to be executed, Maggie sneaks out. Under the cover of darkness, she leaves the castle. And she runs. 

Runs to the place that if she’s caught, she’ll be sent to. Runs to the place where her best friend, is being held. Counting down the seconds, minutes, hours to her death. 

She runs through the tower with an ease. The guards know her, she won’t be stopped. 

She stops at the cell she’s been running to. 

“Anne,” She whispers into the darkness

A ruffle of cloth is barely audible in the ever present silence. 

“Maggie?”

The dim candle light barely envelopes the room but it's enough to see the bag under Anne’s eyes. The tears she’s cried. 

“Is, is she safe?” A whisper. A voice of a mother who knows she isn’t leaving this cell alive. The voice of someone who only cares about the safety of her daughter. 

“Yes. She asks for you. Every single time. I don’t have the heart to tell her but I fear I may need to.”

A sigh echoes around. Bouncing off the walls into the silent night. 

“Please. Tell her. She’s young… Too young for this but she deserves to hear it from someone who loves her unconditionally. And since I’m not going to be there and Henry only loves _with_ conditions, you need to tell her for me.” 

Anne chuckles softly but it quickly fades away. Replaced by an ever thickening silence. 

“I will.” A nod barely visible in the dim candle light.

“I will tell her that you loved her very much and you wish it didn’t end like this. I will tell her what an admirable woman her mother was from the moment I met her, to the moment she died.”

“Thank you. You have always been a true friend. I will miss you but please, leave. Do not get in trouble for visiting me, for Henry will have you in here with me.”

“I will.” A silent promise. 

As Maggie turn away into the darkness she hears a whisper. 

“Maggie,” She turns around. 

“Promise me you’ll raise her to me intelligent and witty and to never think she is less than anyone. You promise me that she will know that her mother loved her more than anything that this world could produce. You promise me that she will know the truth of me and my life.” 

The final wishes of a condemned queen. 

“I swear upon my life that I will uphold this promise. She will never forget you Anne,” 

Maggie spots the familiar smile and fire that she has come to know. It fills her with melancholy for this may be the last time she will see Anne alive. 

She slips out of the tower and into the dark and cold night. Dread filling every part of her body for the coming morning. 

The next morning was cold and miserable. Maggie makes her way to the Tower of London with the other Ladies. 

The mood is dark and somber. No one wanting to make conversation for one of their own, a beloved mistress was soon to be gone. 

The wait is anxiety inducing. Then she sees the familiar brown hair and face. 

Her head is held high. Her gaze straight, scanning the crowd. Even walking to her death, she holds the grace of a queen. 

She kneels down. Laying her head on the block. She has come here to die. And no one can take this away from here. 

“Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, according to law, for by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it.”

This captures the crowd’s attention. The chattering and cheers from the crowd silenced by the last words of a disgraced queen. 

“I come here only to die, and thus to yield myself humbly to the will of the King, my lord. And if in my life, I did ever offend the King’s Grace, surely with my death I do now atone.” 

Nothing Anne did for the king was ever enough. No matter the heartbreak, the stress. Henry kept pushing. And pushing until _he_ had enough. And condemned her to death. 

“I come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of what whereof I am accused, as I know full well that aught I say in my defense doth not appertain to you. I pray and beseech you all, good friends, to pray for the life of the King, my sovereign lord and yours, who is one of the best princes on the face of the earth, who has always treated me so well that better could not be, wherefore I submit to death with good will, humbly asking pardon of all the world.” 

Maggie can tell Anne is trying to sound genuine but she can hear the superficial words. Henry took Anne away from Lizzie. The only person Anne cared about. 

“If any person will meddle with my cause, I require them to judge the best. Thus I take leave of the world, and of you, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. Oh Lord, have mercy on me! To God I commend my soul!”

A few moments pass. The audience replying her words in their minds then the sword comes down. 

Maggie turns her head almost in preparation for the blow. She hears the thud and the cheers. 

She walks away. Back to the palace. Noting that the king isn’t even attending. This time there is small chatter and conversation amongst the courtiers and ladies. Maggie stays silent the entire time. Too busy mourning the loss of her best friend to an unjust king who’s want for power and an heir cost the life of an innocent woman. 

She walks into the nursery where Lizzie is playing. Her eyes light up upon seeing Maggie enter the room. It breaks Maggie’s heart.

She runs as best as she can on her short legs to Maggie.

“Maggie!” Lizzie squeals.

“Where’s mama?” She says looking around. Just like Anne would play where Anne would hide around the room and Lizzie would try to find her. 

She walks around looking under things and moving things around. 

“Mama!” She calls out into the empty room with a childish glee. 

Maggie sighs. Knowing that Lizzie needs to know. 

She picks up Lizzie and sits down on Anne’s favourite chair.

Maggie doesn’t know how to tell her. 

“Mama…” She tries, “Your mama isn’t coming back home. She’s gone to heaven to be with angels. Before she flew away, she wanted me to tell you that she loves you very much,” Maggie starts to choke up. 

She can see the tremble of Lizzie’s bottom lip. 

“She didn’t want to leave you but she had to fly away. She wants you to know that she will never stop loving you and will always be proud of you.”

“Mama. Gone?”

A nod.

Lizzie starts to wail. Maggie starts crying as well. Unleashing her tears and emotions that's she’s been holding onto for the entire day. 

It feels like hours passed. Lizzie long ago fell asleep on Maggie’s shoulder. Maggie feels as if she is right about to when she feels a hand on her shoulder and a whisper in a familiar voice.

“I’m so proud of you both. I will always love you Lizzie,” 

She slowly turns around to see the barely visible smile of Anne Boleyn before she fades away. 


End file.
